The large island to the southeast is supposed to be a barren plateau rising up from the sea. I've been working out different ways to get a believable drop-shadow to show that, but I haven't had much luck so far.

-Still haven't decided if I'm going to add forest/jungles.

-Have to add rivers.

-Cities and geological boundaries after that.

-Then labeling, compass rose, borders, etc.

Any comments, critiques, or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

-Mkoth.

Jalyha

01-30-2014, 08:40 PM

Ummmm okay. Well I've decided to start putting a disclaimer on my comments, cause I have like NO map-knowledge, I just go by what I feel when I see things... and I see things weird, so.. Feel free to ignore me :P

Your coastline is really seperate from the water. It isn't necessarily a BAD thing... I've seen a lot of maps that look like that to me... but the point is, it looks like it's sitting above the water, like a cliff or shelf or a *plateau* :P So maybe whatever you did for your land mass, you could do to make your plateau thingy?

Of course, then you'd need to lose that effect for the land? Maybe? I don't know....

I REALLY like the look of the land... it's all... hilly :P but the effect isn't the same on the lower (tan) island... maybe cause it's more all-one-color? It just looks like crumpled up paper or something on that one (to me)

Big red spot?

Um the mountains in the snow and the ones down by that brown island look like they are falling over? Or maybe I'm looking the wrong way :?

Also.. what's that scorched area (It's okay to say "It's a scorched area DUH!" if you want...) It looks like it should be flat, or a crater :o or filled with half-burnt tree trunks. What happened? :o

Uhmmmm

Idk I really like it overall :D This is a really great first map (way better than anything I can do yet! :D )

Good job!

Mkoth

01-31-2014, 07:24 AM

Okay, took care of the beveled shore thing and increased it on the southeastern plateau. I work weekends, so no more updates until next week.

The red spot is a campaign thing...

-Mkoth.

Zach

01-31-2014, 08:28 AM

You have some stray white pixels around all the coasts...I dunno if that's an issue or not.

Jalyha

01-31-2014, 11:08 AM

woohoo ... instant cliffs :P

&& OH campaign red spot... I figured it waas something :D

I see the white pixels too...

I also think some lighter shading would be good around the shoreline? (or darker?) Something to make it like the water is meeting the land, instead of all fenced off?
and idk what's making the northern mountains seem like they are moving/falling o.o

DO they move? :o that would be AWESOME...

Mkoth

02-04-2014, 05:39 PM

Map update. Cleaned it up a bit and changed the northern mountain range. Added rivers, hope they're convincing enough. Will inner glow the water next, then decide on how to label and border it.

Still haven't decided if adding forests and jungles would look good at this scale. Will try it out tomorrow.

Done in Gimp.

-Mkoth

Mkoth

02-05-2014, 10:01 AM

Added forests and inner-glowed the shoreline.

Comments/advice/criticism greatly appreciated!

-Mkoth

Mkoth

02-05-2014, 10:17 AM

Alright, those forest just didn't look to scale so I faded the heck out of them and I think this looks a lot better.

-Mkoth

gspRooster

02-06-2014, 05:20 PM

Overall this is coming along well for a first map post! Congrats.

With experience and tinkering I feel like you'll teach yourself quite a few new tricks and get really good at this!

For the moment however, you could easily get rid of that "jagged" looking coastline. Blur your land layer slightly, maybe 2 or 3 pixels, nothing huge. Then add a new layer underneath your land layers with a dull yellowish sandy color, use your land mask but grow the mask just a couple of pixels so the sandy color peaks out from underneath the current land layer. Then blur slightly and depending on how it looks maybe tinker just a bit with the opacity. This is the simple method for adding a beach or sandy shoreline to the type of map you're working with. It makes the island look a little more organic and less "lego-like" where the land meets the water.

P.S. - I like the embossed technique for the plateau in the southeast. That will be an interesting thing to tinker with on other mapping attempts. Difficult to perfect though... Ex - a plateau that rises up sharply on one side, with a gradual slope on the other. Not the easiest thing to make look convincing. But fun to play with.

Mkoth

03-13-2014, 01:50 PM

Been a little busy these past few weeks, so this update is a bit late.

Fixed the coastline, brought up a couple islands that had faded away some.

Will add border next week, then the labeling begins along with a crash course in inkscape.

-Mkoth

Mkoth

03-13-2014, 01:52 PM

Yikes! Just saw those funky artifacts on the east coast and elsewhere. Will fix.

-Mkoth

Domino44

03-13-2014, 02:52 PM

I like your mountains. Are you planning to add texture to the water?

madcowchef

03-13-2014, 02:57 PM

The color, texture, and shadows on the mountains are all good, but the randomness or ridge position looks unnatural. A central ridge or a series of several central ridges with smaller ridges running away from them would feel far more natural. Wonderful looking over all, maybe something to help delineate the coastline a bit as the high saturation blue and green blend a bit to my eye at a distance.

Mkoth

03-13-2014, 05:39 PM

Lightened water and textured it. Unfortunately, I had to save it as a jpg as it was too big for png.

Raptori

03-13-2014, 05:49 PM

Like it. I think the transitions into the mountain ranges feel a bit too sudden though... :/